upside down goldfish

[zph2k]

I have a beautiful oranda shipped to me and arrived yesterday. The fish is staying upside down on its head on the bottom of the tank now. I have fish shipped to me and never encountered such a problem. I am just wondering if the seller shipped me the sick fish or its happening because of the stress from shipping.

[Ajno]

It really depends. Sometimes they get that way from shipping stress. If I were you I would just make sure that water quality is good and observe the fish. I would contact the seller with your concern as well.

[small_ranchu]

I would contact seller ASAP and get a refund. I never have good experience with up side down gf.

[Ichthius]

Yes contact the shipper but don't give up on the fish yet. A little fasting and some warm water might clear things up.

There a lots of pressure changes in shipping and a fish that was fine prior to shipping could have revealed a buoyancy issue after the trip.

Where did you get the fish?

<}}}><

[zph2k]

got it from goldfishnet

[marlin08]

How is your fish doing?
Was this one from last week's auction? I hope it's doing better now.

[zph2k]

thanks for asking. Goldfish is not getting any better. Still upside down when resting. When she tries to swim, she is dragging her belly on the bottom. It’s pretty painful to watch her struggling.

[Venus]

Ichthius is right about that pressure. These fancies are very delicate and are prone to floating disorders. This fish has been transferred from one tank into a tiny bag, and then placed into another tank that may be much bigger than what it's used to.

Goldfish are pond dwellers and if we're going to keep them successfully in aquariums we have to make some compromises.

Was the fish in a normal position in the bag? If so, try lowering the water table in your aquarium, this will relieve some of the water pressure and the fish may just right itself.

Depending on the fish and the condition of the swim bladder, it may take a bit of lowering.

Avoid placing these fish in tall and narrow tanks.

The top surface area (or space) of the tank or aquarium should be greater than or equal to; the front surface area of the tank up to the water line; lower water table until these two areas match.

Increased surface action will assist in reducing water pressure too.

Lower water table 3" every 3 hours until desired level is achieved. It may take a few hours or a few days for the procedure to take affect. This is only a standard and some goldfish may require more of less water removed before righting itself.

http://www.goldfish-emergency.com/viewpage.php?page_id=70

I wouldn't write this fish off quite yet; it may surprise you.

[Jed]

Yes contact the shipper but don't give up on the fish yet. A little fasting and some warm water might clear things up.

There a lots of pressure changes in shipping and a fish that was fine prior to shipping could have revealed a buoyancy issue after the trip.

Where did you get the fish?

<}}}><


It is possible the swimbladder was damaged during shipping? I caught one UPS guy tossing my box in the air. :mad:

[thomasn]

It is possible the swimbladder was damaged during shipping? I caught one UPS guy tossing my box in the air. :mad:


:omg: what did you do? how was the fish?

[bekko]

Swim bladder problems are a combination of genetic propensity and environmental factors (diet and water). If the fish has a genetic propensity to be a floater then the likelihood that it will float increases with age. The shipping stress could have pushed it over the edge, but I suspect there were signs of a looming problem before it was shipped.

-steve

[Jed]

:omg: what did you do? how was the fish?

I read him the riot act and told him he will be responsible for any damage to my fish. The fish was okay, believe it or not.

[Venus]

Did you know that goldfish don't actually hear? they feel vibrations. There's now scientific evidence that the swim bladder is responsible for the fish feeling these vibrations. A really loud sound or jolt could injure the bladder.

If the box was tossed, there's a good chance the bladder was damaged, but that doesn't mean it can't repair itself over time; if water pressure is reduced.

You're welcome, Venus

[Ichthius]

Hi Venus

The do feel vibrations but they can hear as they also have ears.

Search goldfish otolith and you'll find all sorts of research about it.

I work with Zebrafish (also a carp) and my PI uses them to study hearing loss and the associated getetics.

[bekko]

Otoliths are primarily for maintaining a sense of balance and orientation. They also "hear" through the lateral line.

-steve

[Ichthius]

The lateral line and swim bladder are used primarely for low frequency sound and pressure changes.

Fine tuned and spacial hearing utilize the Otoliths and assoicated structures. Fish hear with their ears.

"Of these end organs, the saccule is considered to be the primary auditory organ in most teleost fish, though there is evidence of a functional overlap between all three otolith organs (Popper & Fay, 1993)."

The lateral line can detect sound between 10 and 30 and up to 300 Hz in some fish.

"The fish inner ear is capable detecting sounds within a frequency bandwidth of 30 Hz to around 600 Hz for generalists (Fay, 1988) and up to 4 kHz for pressure sensitive specialists (Hawkins, 1981)."
(http://www.ariamarine.com/Fish_%20hearing/fish_hearing.htm)

"The dense otoliths of teleost fishes are of considerable interest because of their intimate involvement in the function of the ear in the senses of balance and hearing." (http://www.life.umd.edu/biology/popperlab/Popper%20et%20al%20(2005)%20Why%20otoliths%20-%20Insights%20from%20inner%20ear%20physiology%20an d%20fisheries%20biology%20(Mar%20freshwater%20Res) .pdf)

This one is cool because it mentions the original publications of where the myth that goldfish can not hear originated. (http://www.jstor.org/pss/2454971)

http://www.me.gatech.edu/minami.yoda/FLOIDLab/fishhearing/fishhearing.htm

In researching this I've seen many names I've sent fish to in the past.

[Virginia ranchu]

Shipping can also trigger development of the ovaries. If "her" belly feels mushy, she might just be full of eggs. Not much you can do unless the eggs begin to flow. You do NOT want to apply pressure, but if she starts to drop eggs, you could gently hand strip the rest.

[pearlscale_fan]

my goldfish had the same problem: swimbladder trouble
non-fancy goldfish have an oval-shapped swimbladder, but fancy goldfish have an hourglass-shaped swimbladder
there is no real cure, but peas often help
if the fish stays that way, you can consider having a weight put into it to sink its back end
eventually, my fish's swimbladder stopped growing and got too small to keep her off the bottom, which eventually led to us having to put her down due to infection
i wish you better luck with your fish